Conant rises up; Saxons share title with Broncos

Conant played spoiler Friday night.

Before a fired-up senior night house, the host Cougars dashed the hopes of Schaumburg, which was looking to run the table in its division and win the MSL West wrestling title outright.

The Cougars (3-2) rolled up a 19-0 lead, and never let off the gas pedal en route to an impressive 35-23 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams.

"It was one of those nights when (Conant) just got up on us (early) and then just outwrestled us the rest of the way," said Schaumburg coach Matt Gruszka, whose team shares the West title with Barrington after the Broncos topped Fremd 36-23.

"This was a great way to finish out as seniors, and before our home crowd," said Conant senior Jake Prestia (21-4) who recorded a fall at 171 pounds over Jon Mejia to officially put the match out of reach for Schaumburg.

"It was very satisfying to see our result tonight," said Conant coach Dave Pena. "I had a very good feeling about how things might go for us tonight, and all along I felt that we were capable of night like this one."

Pena thought the work from Nick Shay at 125 pounds should not go unnoticed. It was his 4-2 decision over Mike Pinones that gave the hosts their 19-0 lead, which the visitors cut into with a pair of wins from Evan Hafner (130) and John Lombardo (135).

Despite the solid work from the Saxons' duo, the Cougars re-established their lead in big fashion when another senior, Tyler King (16-10), surprised Xavier Davis with a thundering pin at 3:33 to get his team back on track with a lead of 25-9.

The King-Davis bout began fast and reached 100 mph until slowing to just under the speed limit as the score became 6-6 just moments into the second period.

King went up with 2 near the edge before turning Davis just in front of his bench and quickly getting the pin.

The teams traded victories after the King's success, with Pat Felde (145), Joe LaManna (a fall at 152) and Danny Malik narrowly defeating Sean Smith at 160 to set up Prestia's heroics, and later a dominant performance from Joe Patricelli (17-5), who ended the night with a 14-7 major over Greg Cruz.

Zach Ciszek, Kevin Lejman and Vince Gottardo (18-9) followed up Nate Johnson's 4-2 decision at 285 with victories of their own for Conant.

"This is what it is all about ... the team," said Patricelli. "There's no better way for the seniors to go out than with a big win at home."